I’ve wanted to make a Rudolph and Clarice card, and decided to combine it with 2 easy masking techniques! We’re getting down to the wire, and quick ideas that are great for fabulous cards are always helpful, right?
For the masking – super simple, use a babywipe to clean off areas before stamping; and stickynotes to simply cover areas without cutting out fancy masks! See how:
I used my Polychromos pencils on these….here are the colors:
I asked Facebook for terms to use for different kinds of snow shown in my video….and there wasn’t anything as specific as we have in my area for rain! So I’ll call this flurries……
And this is big wet snowflakes…..
And this has got to be called Sandy Snow, since it’s my most usual amount of snow on a Christmas card! ha!
Supplies
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Reindeer Games, My Favorite Things Clear Stamps —- no longer available
It’s that time – my traditional 24 Tags of Christmas 2019 begins with Snow Animals! Every year I make 24 tags for a big giveaway to 24 lucky randomly drawn winners (international is ok!) – and I choose from both YT comments and blog comments. So stick around all week for the six videos!
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
As with all my projects, I trade around to different mediums – this time with these teeny images from Mama Elephant in the Snow Friends set, I chose Polychromos colored pencil since the stamps are so tiny – and stamped them in a light ink so I’d get a no-line look!
For dog and cat lovers — did I hear a SQUEE from you on these little images?? A little dog building his own snowdog, and a kitty building a snowcat? What a great idea!
The little black bear is building himself a snowbear – so polar bears and black bears DO get along! (You learn something new every day, you’re welcome!) And i added whiskers to my snowbunny because, well, why not!
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
I’ve made circlet cards before and colored them in all sorts of mediums — and this time I made tags too! Coloring them up made me realize how perfect they’d be for nice round tags using Nativity andSleigh Ride from Art Impressions.
Art Impressions has been making circlet sets forever (scroll down to see just some of them!) – they’re a fun way to make an interactive, three panel style card, and they aren’t hard at all, especially with a MISTI on hand. You don’t NEED a MISTI for them, but boy howdy does it make it easier!
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
Watch the video below or click HERE to watch it on YouTube.
In the video I also did a little re-introduction of the MISTI – from emails received, I realized I just USE it on camera and never mention it or link to it, coz it’s like…well it’s such a commonly used tool for me, it’s like a pair of scissors in it’s uniqueness! ha. But for new folks, the MISTI makes stamping soo much easier since I can re-stamp an image again and again til I get it right – which is needed for this crafter-who-can’t-stamp! There are two MISTIS – a large and a mini one…and there are mousepad style inserts for both, paper pad inserts, round and bar magnets,…lots are listed in the supplies at the end of this post. Also look for MISTI tutorials on YouTube, I do lots of straight up stamping but folks have come up with lots more techniques!
The cards are made on Desert Storm, a color in the Neenah cardstock family. Using white pencil (you can use Prismacolor, Polychromos, or whatever you’d like) and a white pen (I like the Uni-ball but others like different ones), it’s super easy to do some quick coloring!
Since this post leans toward newbies who didn’t know what a MISTI is – the Crafter’s Companion Gemini Junior what I use to do the diecutting. (Not shown in the video.) It’s an electric diecutter, and my favorite of all the ones I’ve tried over the years – no more hand cranking!
On to the ornaments! Here are nice close ups for ya – these are stamped in the Kraft,ink, darker than the Grout Grey.
I cut 2″ circles for the ornament images, and the punch I used was just eer so slightly larger than the stamped circles. Rather than letting the lines show, I inked the edges with Yeti Lawn Fawn Pigment Ink to cover that. I also inked the outer circles (2-1/4) to make them match. Punched a quick circle, tied in some twine, and badaboom badabing!
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
These little penguins from Evelin T designs are so cute – especially the little stumbling guy in front! That’s totally me on my face and he needed to take center stage. (Watch the video to hear the YMCA story!)
Video
Watch the video below or click HERE to watch it on YouTube.
Polychromos colors used:
Don’t forget a quick little decorating of the envelope!
I think I’m up to 65 Christmas cards now, which is a good bit of progress on my 250 goal! But I need to keep jamming….the calendar ain’t waiting!
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
In answer to reader questions: I wanted to supply a few tips for Blending Stumps – using the Sunny Studio Cruisin Critters stamp set. The question is a basic that, I guess I just assumed people knew: Is there a correct way to hold a blending stump?
Supplies for this project are linked at the end of this post. Compensated affiliate links may be used at no cost to you.
Video
A variety of uses of stumps provides a variety of effects – smooth, textured, or somewhere in between.
I swatch two ways – the hex chart uses heavy pressure and blending solution, and the square swatches are light pressure. That way I know readily what effects I get with different uses.
Supplies
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
My post today over at Ellen Hutson is a rather epic one – it was created for people who don’t color at all, but have an inkling they might like to try – the supplies for each are different, and choosing which one and knowing what to get can be overwhelming!
I thought I would create a “partner” post for it here, for more advanced folks who may already have a few of those art supplies, and are wondering which kinds of projects are best suited for which medium.
This video is also the first of a series that I’m creating for a class coming up – some of the videos will be public ones on YouTube, others will be inside the class all about art supplies. I’ve always wanted one place to put alllll the info about my favorite supplies, maintenance and care of them, tricks to fix broken things, lots of tiny tips that get lost on a giant YouTube channel like mine. I get so many questions about which direction is best to store X brand of whatever, or what’s my favorite thing for X, and this class will be epic. And free.
Which art medium is best for what?
Sometimes it’s obvious. Sometimes you just feel like using a medium. But sometimes…it might help to think through what medium is best for a particular subject matter, or a certain kind of stamp. This video includes snippets of lots of videos that I thought showcase the best uses for the mediums, and sometimes point out the challenges!
Watch the video below or click HERE to view on YouTube.
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. If you choose to shop using my EH (Ellen Hutson) links, please accept cookies on that site in order to retain the link to my blog, or that compensation does not happen for me. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
What are Copic markers best for?
While an artist can always use *whatever* medium when does it make the most sense to reach for Copics?
Smooth blending is the workspace of Copic markers (I’ve tried other brands and haven’t found others that compare favorably). Once techniques are mastered, it’s easy to create art with smooth transitions between colors that are different, depth created by blending a dark into a medium and a light.
Images with thicker outlines are easier for newer colorists to use with Copics, since the nib on a Copic isn’t pencil-thin; stamps with thin outlines can sometimes beckon the ink to bleed outside the line.
Color range is a boon for Copics, if you’re an artist with a wide collection – for someone like me who has them all, I know exactly what I can do with the colors I have. There are very subtle differences between some that are helpful in creating realism and minute color shifts.
Studio/craft room work is most typical for Copics; they can be packed up in cases/boxes/baskets for travel, but the size of the collection can cause problems for those wanting to haul supplies! I never use Copics when I go outdoors to sketch for this reason, though I may do a black and white sketch and come back to the studio to add color.
Foundations (color theory) and technique are taught in Copic Jumpstart – a class that has been loved by both crafters and artists of all levels of experience.
Choose the medium that suits your mood at the moment! Don’t think with your head. Close your eyes and picture yourself in your artistic happy place. What will make your heart happy at that moment?
When feeling loose and washy, get out the paints! I get in different moods, and that often points me to my watercolors. Paint outside the lines, let the color flow, and let yourself lose a little control. Start with some scraps, even just a corner of paper to play with, and get yourself inspired.
Playing with color is an area that watercolor excels. The mixing of color is limitless, literally – the amount of pigment vs water used affects the color mix produced. You can mix in a palette or on paper. Glaze one color over another. If you know none of your Copics will have the color you need – your watercolors can create it.
Stamps with heavier lines work a bit better for those who are worried about going outside the lines – brush control takes practice. Stamps with thinner lines can be used for loose techniques breaking out of lines.
Flat washes (large areas where color floods are needed) are easiest with watercolor, though the art of the flat wash does require practice. Use gravity to your benefit!
Water management is the hardest learning curve in watercolor, in my opinion – the Watercolor Jumpstart Class provides teaching on that topic and many others that’ll help you wrangle your paints!
If your project – or your mood – requires control, colored pencil is by far the way to go.
Tiny detail requires tiny nibs/points on pencils, pens and brushes – and pencils can be sharpened to a very very fine point. That makes them perfect for very detailed work, or for adding that detail onto a piece created with a different medium. Yes, you can combine them!
Color stays put for the most part, with colored pencil; it’s a dry medium, and won’t bleed when it touches another color next to it. It will, however, smoodge if you lay your hand across it, so be aware of that and place a protective piece of paper below your hand to protect your work.
The best controlled color mixing happens with colored pencils; adding light layers of color one over another can create not only new colors, but depth and resonance of color not achievable by any other medium!
Creating textures are fabulous with pencil, given the number of techniques that exist for blending. See the Colored Pencil Jumpstart class to learn a number of them.
Some mediums lend themselves to being a hybrid of control and loose application of color – and watercolor pencil is one that checks a lot of boxes.
Control with options – watercolor pencils are applied in the same controlled fashion as colored pencils, but with the opportunity to add some looseness as well when adding water.
Thin stamped lines lend themselves to coloring carefully up to the line with the pencil, then carefully using a brush and water to break up the pigment. But watercolor pencils can handle any stamp lines well.
Enhancing watercolor can be achieved with watercolor pencils, as well – if reaching a point in a painting that particular detail needs to be added with more control, reach for a watercolor pencil. Signs on a building, patterns on fabric on a figure—address the small details that are hard to achieve with a brush.
Sketching is great with watercolor pencils; create a sketched scene in watercolor pencil that is planned to be done in watercolor, and the outlines will melt away. If some lines need to remain, sketch those in a regular pencil so they don’t disappear.
Coming soon: a Watercolor Pencil Jumpstart class. Sign up for the newsletter (in the menu bar over at Art-Classes.com) and you’ll be first to know!
Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Pencil Tin Set of 120, Faber-Castell —- Ellen Hutson —- Blick
